Diabetes impacts risk of death from dysglycemia

Diabetic status affects the relationship between mortality and dysglycemia in critically ill patients, with non-diabetic patients having an increased risk of death in comparison to diabetics.

Whats the beef?

As the worldwide meat scandal continues, this new research reports that almost 80% of 146 South African meat samples were incorrectly labelled using mitochondrial COI DNA barcoding and cyt b sequencing.

Venom chemistry and the special problems of rattlesnakes

Viperid snakes bite their prey and then let them go to avoid retaliation. By measuring snake behavior and analysing venom chemistry, Stephen Mackessy and colleagues provide an answer to how they find them again.

Implications of drug-induced changes

Allan Sniderman and George Thanassoulis comment on a meta-analysis showing reduction of testosterone by statins, but argue that range of changes rather than average changes need to be considered when measuring the effects of specific drugs.

How effective are marine protected areas?

Fully protected areas (i.e. no take zones) provide the greatest benefit to ecosystems, although partially protected areas are still effective to an extent in protecting target species and ecosystems. These findings can inform policy makers in marine conservation and protection of biologically important marine habitats.

Statins reduce testosterone levels

According to a meta-analysis, treatment with statins, a drug commonly prescribed to patients at risk of cardiovascular disease, can reduce testosterone levels in both men and women, although the cause for this needs to be determined by further studies.

Outbreak of a novel coronavirus

This timely review summarises the ongoing outbreak of a novel coronavirus (HCoV-EMC), which has caused a number of fatal cases in the UK and Middle East.

Pit-bull reviewers and the editorial leash

BMC Biology operates on the principle that the function of a journal is to facilitate publication of sound research results. Miranda Robertson reviews in Q&A format the journal’s re-review opt-out policy and how it has worked over the four years of its operation.

Neural networks altered in autism

Graph theory measurements in autistic patients with and without tuberous sclerosis complex reveal more short-range neural connections compared with non-autistic controls, offering mechanistic insight into the neurobiological mechanisms of autism.

Insights into the mechanisms of autism

Charlotte Tye and Patrick Bolton comment on a study showing that neural networks differ in tuberous sclerosis patients with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and describe how the results support the theory of altered neural circuitry in ASD.